America's Greatest Depression (History Essay Sample)

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With the crash of the stock market that left a large port of the American economy practically damaged had all to do with the trends of livelihood that followed soon after. Many of the issues that were affecting the people in general rotated around the industrial and crafts unions. For many people and politicians, this crash was associated with economically damaging government policies that were put in place. The Great Depression as many people would like to call it was the end and start of major economic policies and decisions. It could not be verified what the problem was towards the start of the Great Depression but analysts and those responsible for the livelihood of the citizens had to do something. Many are the times that the government was expected by the people to act in favor of them. However, the government was more focused on the unimportant issues due to the fact that there were less economic analysts at that time willing or resourceful enough to provide a better explanation to the problem (Campa 77).

As a matter of fact, the government officials who were advising the president on this issue did not have a first hand experience with the situation that people at the grassland level were going through. It is through the same case that the decisions that were made and the programs that were put in place did not work for the people in general. The stock market crash was there and unless proper measures were put in place, there was no way the situation was going to improve. The government on its side was trying to manage the situation with all the means that it thought would be applicable to solve the problems. The people at the grassland level on the other hand, had better experience with the situation than those in the government and had a clear understanding of the issues only that they could not tell why the stock market crashed. For this reason, people started to form crafts and industrial unions to help them carter for their economical damage.

With the efforts of the government starting to pay off and the efforts of the people catering for their livelihoods, the question was raised why there continued to exist the rivalry between the crafts and the industrial unions. It is easy to speculate that the people would have been scared of after shocks of the same economic issue. However, putting speculation out of the picture it is found out the crafts unions had better chances of survival in difficulty times than industrial unions. The reason for this is due to the fact that industrial unions had to be registered with high authority than the crafts unions and there was too much regulation that was unfavorable to the people. In addition to this, industrial unions were made up of few investors and employees didn’t have shares on the industries. For this reason, those with clear minds joined the crafts unions in that funding was a general responsibility and benefits would be shared amongst the members. There was more security on the crafts unions in terms of economy than there were on the industrial unions.

Besides the issues that involved the economy and security, racism was another issue that was coming up during this time (Great Depression time) (Cecchetti 114). With the programs that the government put in place in order to sort this issue, distribution of the relief funds and other opportunity was highly affected by the issue of racism. Due to this reason, many of the government relief programs that were put in 0place could not work due to the fact that they were partially solving the issue. African Americans, Mexican Americans, and Indian Americans were some of the major races that were engaged in this racism tussle for power. It was hard for the marginalized lot to survive despite the major efforts that the government was putting in place. For this reason, there was an instinctive split of the races that were in conflict.

Divided into two, the races were down grades from their ethnic values to their skin color orientation. For this case, the whites could not live with the blacks in the same neighborhoods. It did not end at the societal interaction, it was further taken to the employment and hiring arena where the blacks would be discriminated and refused the opportunity to work in industries that were own and managed by whites. For survival through this, the black community formed most of the craft unions so that they could fend for themselves.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Altered ways of life

After the crash of the stock market that resulted to the great Depression, there was a general alteration of the ways of life. With the situation not getting any better for the large masses who had families to feed, cloth, and house after they were fired from their jobs; there wasn’t business as usual any more.

Unemployment is one of the issues that got many people by surprise. The period between 1929 and 1933, happened to be a period that affected most of the employed lot. It is through unemployment that led to people being fired from their work places so that the industries and the companies they were working for could operate just above the threshold point. With industries struggling to survive the economic depression by lying off their employees, many people thought that being employed was a wrong idea within the given circumstances. As a result, there are those of whom employment wasn’t a basic need but rather a way of life. The way of life was drastically changing to the negative for those who lost their full time jobs and were considered for the part time jobs. The rest who had lost their jobs for good were in a worse position compared to the part time employees in that they could hardly provide for their families.

Now that is seemed that the situation would only be resolved through teamwork that was yet to be established, the few industrial unions that were in the business found themselves struggling with increased competition from crafts unions (Chandler 131). While the crafts unions were uprising, the manpower demand on the industrial unions was picking up due to the fact that most people who would provide that service preferred to self employ themselves rather than be employed. The reason why the crafts unions uprising was picking pace was due to the cautionary state of mind that many people entered after the crash. Everyone was scared that they could lose their jobs and their livelihoods if the situation never recovered from the state it was in. There was also the fact that many people wanted to have financial security and a foundation of covering the sources that provided that.

Unfavorable government policies

A year or so into the situation, the government of USA hadn’t done anything yet to curb the situation once and for all. Besides putting temporary measures that were short lived there was no solution to the problem. Given the kind of policies that the government was coming up with to address the issue with, it was clear that the government didn’t know what exactly it was dealing with. For this reason, if by trial and error the government would have succeeded in putting the situation under control, it would still be short lived due to the underlying problems and the expected after shocks that follow after such issues are done away with.

The New Deal was one of the ridiculous programs that were put in place to manage the situation. Given the purpose this program was aimed at addressing, it was clear that the government didn’t have a clear insight on the issue. The reason for saying this is because the program was aimed at regulating overproduction that was assumedly the cause of the stock market crash. By reviewing the program and the type of issue it was aimed to address, it could have been compared with reconstruction of a crumbling house from the top without paying any attention to the foundation. When the program was put to effect, it lacked a duty to and role to play with addressing the issue. With failure of the program to solve the problem due to the fact there was hardly any production leave alone overproduction, a second program was drafted and effected so that it could deal with the situation (Cowles 142).

The New Deal 2 was made a successor of the New Deal and was made to address the issue of under consumption. The problem with the two programs is the fact that they were structured as preventive measures rather than curative measures to the situation at hand. If the situation hadn’t deteriorated to the level it was, then there would be chances that the programs would work.

Considering that the government was putting measures to address issues that were supposed to have been addressed long before the Stock Market Crash occurred, opened people’s eyes to see that the government was aiming at regulating their operations. Considering the operational difference between crafts unions and industrial unions, many people in fear of the government intentions thought that it was a better idea to belong to crafts unions rather than industrial unions hence spiking a rivalry between these entities.

Racism and Nepotism

Racism is the act of using mockery, abusive, and violence against people of a particular race. Racism can be divided into two categories that include the auto racism and counter racism. Auto racism is the type of racism that involved individuals of a certain race hating those of another race due to the original or their ways of life. Counter racism is the act of racism where the individuals of one race have a clear understanding and knowledge of the races that are racist to them and then countering the situation by applying the same racist measures as their counterparts.

Nepotism is the act of favoring certain persons over others due to personal reasons. The reasons could range from culture, tribe, demographical values, family background, ethnicity, and/or skin color. For this case nepotistic person may not be racist but could be using skin color as a variable to facilitate nepotism.

Racism and nepotism are some of the issues that contributed the most in the rivalry between the crafts and industrial unions. Given that most White Americans owned most of the industrial unions and with racism playing a role, the Black Americans had little or no chances in securing membership or employment in settings. On the other side of the equation, there had to be a way of survival for the Black Americans and this was the crafts unions. The Blacks played their role in providing for their families and affecting the economy positively. However, the reason for the heated rivalry between the crafts and industrial unions in this case was to establish a boundary and minimize the reasons for racism. The boundary was to be set so that the Whites would not keep claiming to be the owners of USA and for the Blacks to stop feeling lesser citizens. The reasons that contributed to the high levels of racism included the fact that the Blacks were considered broke and less dynamic with ideas and resources of changing the economy (Della 89).

Embracing traditions

Crafts unions are made up of individuals that embrace the art of using manual means and hand held equipment to make items and products. For this reason, the culture of a certain community can be assessed through the kind of items that one community makes. Culture and family values are included in the list of traditions that people consider part of their livelihoods.

Tradition and way of life can be considered the same thing. Long before the industrial revolution, many American citizens used to be craftsmen and used their skills to make it through life. Before the discovery and invention of standard currency, items made by craftsmen were used as the official exchange items in the barter trade. With many generations passing, crafts work continued to lag behind due to the influence of technology. However, during the period between 1929 and 1941 technology hadn’t accumulated enough grounds to make craftwork fade out of the picture. Between 1919 and 1931 was the active period of time when industrialization was assuming grounds in the USA. For this reason, replacing craftwork with industrialization was not a task that could be undertaken with haste due to the fact that people and the generations had to get used to the changes.

With embracing technological advances and industrialization comes with a price that each one of the involved parties has to pay. For this reason, a certain portion of the population may or may not choose to embrace the changes. Some rely on traditions and beliefs and tend to hold on to what they know better hence ignoring the new changes. With the rivalry between the craft and industrial unions during the period of the Great Depression stiffening, the consideration and reason for this was not entirely economical but rather substantial to respect and honor for traditions (Díaz 90).

Racial differences

Unlike the discussion under racism and nepotism, racial differences entirely focus on a different issue all together. The racial difference of the American dwellers is way too large for any particular party to go by ethnicity of the individual at hand. For this reason, the diversity of the races and their cultures in the USA places each and every party at the risk of being befallen by economical uncertainties if they rely on another. The Chinese in the USA have a way of life different from the rest of the Americans. The strategies that they apply in surviving through the economy are specially modified unlike the rest of the Americans. With this in mind, the looming rivalry between craft and industrial unions is seen as a tactical approach for survival (Eichengreen 119).

Down grading the scope of assessment from the entire USA races and placing all of them under the categories of black and white with consideration to skin color and place of origin. It is true that racial differences and the obvious constraints do not allow all to associate freely. For this reason and considering the financial strength of individuals, the reason why craft and industrial unions rival each other is due to the close-ended nature of the operating methods and the purposes intended (Galbraith 106). The whites are believed to be more much financial stable than the blacks and this translates to their investment power.

CONCLUSION

“Why did the rivalry between craft and industrial unions keep increasing during the period between 1929 and 1949” one would ask. Despite the obvious reasons of competing effectively in terms of trade; other reasons include insecurity, racism and racial differences, and embracing of traditions. With many industrial unions owned or comprising of the White American members, there was a huge imbalance in terms of economic control and contribution. With the crash of the stock market between the year 1929 and 1933, many diplomatic mistakes were made by the government and this led to the prolonged aftershocks of the situation to eight years later.